Questions

Question first appeared on July 7, 2002
Why are there two AAmen=s@ in some places in the service and a single AAmen@ in other places in the service?

As far as I know, there are two places where the liturgical choir sings a double AAmen.@ The first is just before the Elevation of the Host, and the words, AProskomen (Let us attend)! Holy things are for the Holy!@ The second is at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.

I am at a loss to explain why our liturgical music calls for a double AAmen@ prior to the Elevation. All liturgical texts that I have, including our Service Book, show a single AAmen@ at this point and throughout the rest of the Liturgy. It is possible that liturgical composers felt that the solemnity of the moment prior to the Elevation and Holy Communion call for a double AAmen.@

The double AAmen@ at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy can be explained as a necessary response to the priest who combines the last two blessings of the Liturgy into one. Each blessing, AHe who rose again from the dead,..., for as much as He is good and loveth mankind,@ and AThrough the prayers of our holy Fathers,..., have mercy upon us and save us,@ both require an AAmen.@ When the priest combines the two, not pausing for the first AAmen,@ the choir responds with a double AAmen.@

The word AAmen@ is an interesting one. It is Hebrew word which literally translates, ASo be it.@ To say AAmen@ is to proclaim that one holds for Atrue@ what has just been said, with a view to ratifying a proposition or to uniting oneself to a prayer.

Until the latter part of the second century, the liturgical language in the Eastern as well as the Western Churches was generally Greek. In this, the infant Church adopted the practice of the Jews who lived in the diaspora (outside of Palestine). These dispersed Jews used the Greek language in the vernacular, as well as in their synagogue services, not the Hebrew of liturgical worship in Jerusalem and Palestine. When the Church spread beyond the confines of Palestine, it simply took over the practice of using Greek in its services, except for a few Hebrew words such as AAmen,@ AAlleluia,@ and AHosanna.@